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Florida State / College of Music / Quicklinks / Music Library / Special Collections / Personal Collections
Personal Collections
A large number of the collections in our possession relate to one person, most of whom had some connection to the Florida State University or its predecessor, the Florida State College for Women. Notable exceptions are the Allen Forte Theory Treatise Collection and the Ethan Allen Hitchcock Flute Music Collection.
FSU Faculty
- John Boda
- William F. Cramer
- Ernst von Dohnányi
- James Gunn
- Wiley L. Housewright
- Edward Kilenyi
- Ella Scoble Opperman
- Albert Tipton
- Howard Wilson
- Franciszek Zachara
FSU Alumni
Other Individuals
John Boda Collection
Dr. John Boda (1922-2002) was professor of theory, composition and piano at Florida State University, teaching from 1947-2001. Notable pupils include Ellen Taaffe Zwillich and David Ward Steinman.
William F. Cramer Collection
William F. Cramer taught trombone at Florida State University for more than 30 years, starting in the 1950s. He was a founding member of the International Trombone Association, and received their distinguished service award in 1987. Over the course of his distinguished career, he played a major role in the promotion and development of repertoire for his instrument.
Ernst von Dohnányi Collection
Ernst von Dohnányi (also known in Hungarian as Ernő Dohnányi) taught piano and composition at FSU from 1949 until his death in 1960. By the time he came to FSU in 1949, he had an international reputation without peer.
James Gunn Collection
James Gunn was a former FSU faculty member, and instructor of theory in the 1950s.
Wiley L. Housewright Archives
Dr. Housewright joined the faculty of Florida State University as a professor of music in 1947. He was appointed the third Dean of the FSU School of Music in 1966 and served until his retirement in 1980. The Housewright Archives contain many boxes of personal research, papers, manuscripts and drafts of Dr. Housewright's books about early Florida music.
Wiley L. Housewright Sheet Music Collection
In the 19th century it was common for individuals to have their collections of music bound into books for ease of use and storage. Dr. Housewright collected a number of such volumes in Florida and south Georgia in the course of research for his book A History of Music and Dance in Florida, 1565-1865.
Edward Kilenyi Archive
Edward Kilenyi Jr. (1910-2000) was a Hungarian-American classical pianist and educator of great influence in the 20th century. He was a pupil, friend, and later colleague of Ernst von Dohnányi (1877-1960), Hungarian composer and pianist. Both men served on the faculty at Florida State University (Kilenyi 1953-83; Dohnányi 1949-60), and are considered two of the most influential musicians who ever taught at FSU.
Ella Scoble Opperman Collection
Ella Scoble Opperman (1873-1969) was the first director of the School of Music at the Florda State College for Women from 1911, and its first dean from 1920 until her retirement in 1944. Opperman was an accomplished pianist and organist and served also as a vocal coach. As an administrator, Opperman established courses leading to the first degree programs at the School of Music.
Howard Wilson Collection
Howard S. Wilson (1913-1962 or 63) was Associate Professor of Piano at FSU. The collection consists of a folder of memorabilia and 42 compositions, primarily manuscript solo and chamber works.
Franciszek Zachara Collection
Franciszek Zachara was a Polish-American concert pianist, composer, and college music educator. He taught at FSU from 1948 until his death in 1966. Zachara composed well over 300 works, and was very active as a performer.
Ewald and Kathryn Reece Haun Collection
The Ewald and Kathryn Reece Haun Collection consists of 198 items, mostly manuscript scores and parts. Included are compositions by Ewald and Kathryn Haun as well as transcriptions and arrangements of works by other composers.
Charles H. Turner Collection
Charles Henry Turner (1936-2006) was a jazz musician most noted for his position as lead trumpeter for Frank Sinatra during the years 1975-1983. The collection consists principally of scores and personal effects donated by David Brinson and Turner's mother, Norma Turner. The scores are primarily copies of handwritten arrangements of jazz standards made for Sinatra's band.
Curtis Davidson Collection
Curtis Davidson (1913-2001) was a trumpeter from Quincy, Florida who was dedicated to sharing his passion for Dixieland Jazz music throughout the Southeast. The Curtis Davidson Collection comprises a number of recordings in reel-to-reel, cassette, and compact disc format. These recordings document performances of the Curtis Davidson Orchestra and Curtis Davidson and his Southerners from 1930-1980
Allen Forte Treatise Collection
This collection was assembled by theorist and musicologist Allen Forte for his personal use. He began collecting these items in the early 1950's, and acquisition continued over some two decades. The collection was offered for sale as a whole in the spring of 1998, and was acquired by the library in August of that year. It consists of 49 titles, including first editions of several important 18th-century treatises.
Ethan Allen Hitchcock Flute Music Collection
Major-General Ethan Allen Hitchcock (1798-1870), the grandson of the famed Ethan Allen, was a major figure in American military history. He was also an amateur musician and an avid collector of flute music. A large trunk containing his personal collection of music was discovered in a plantation in Sparta, GA, by FSU flute professor Charles Delaney, who after a more than twenty-year effort negotiated its transfer to the Warren D. Allen Music Library.
Gloria Jahoda Music Collection
Gloria Jahoda (1926-1980) was an author of fiction and non-fiction, including literature for young readers, and is best known for her journalistic histories of Floridian folk culture in the 1960s. She also had an interest in the composers Frederick Delius and Percy Grainger.
Theodore Newman Collection
Theodore Newman (1933-1975) was an American composer active in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. This collection is composed of materials collected by the late Kathleen Ciambella, a FSU graduate student, for an uncompleted thesis.
Albert Tipton Reel-to-Reel Collection
Albert Tipton was a flutist and composer who taught at FSU from 1968 to 1975. This collection contains several boxes of reel-to-reel recordings, mostly of himself, including recitals and rehearsals as well as a few commercial recordings.
Ferde Grofé Audio Collection
Ferdinand (Ferde) Grofé (1892-1972) was an American born composer/arranger that came from four generations of classical musicians. The Ferde Grofé Audio Collection contains 144 reel-to-reel audio recordings and 47 cassette tape recordings. Many of these recordings are live performances that range from 1936-1968.
Dale A. Olsen Collection
Dale Olsen began teaching at the Florida State University School of Music in 1973, became a Distinguished Research Professor in 2001, and retired in 2008 as Professor Emeritus. This collection contains over 800 audio and visual items collected during Dr. Olsen’s career as a researcher and educator from 1965 to 2007.
